Latest News From Cotton

While the expectation is for cotton acres to increase in the June acreage report, another key question is if cotton demand can continue to find footing and support higher prices.

West Texas is the largest cotton production area in the country, but after battling drought and heat, area farmers say the dryland crop is a failure, and the irrigated acres are only yielding half of normal.

After a year of struggles in 2022, this year’s crop reaped weather that was much more favorable for growing cotton. Burlison, Tenn., farmer Brad Williams describes this year’s growing season as almost perfect.

Neil Lee's cotton dealt with cool weather early on, which stunted the crop. It then turned off hot and dry. At harvest, he was thrilled to find "money bolls" at the bottom of the plant. 

East-central Texas farmers battled historic heat, along with no rain during the heart of the growing season. The outlook on the cotton crop was bleak, but one Texas farmer says cotton harvest produced several surprises.

While a few cotton fields flourished with yields to brag about at the gin, the majority of the region’s production suffered, from one weather extreme to another.

Farmers across the Texas High Plains received a deluge of rainfall right at planting, and while the moisture was needed, the sudden switch prevented some farmers from planting their intended cotton acres this year.

After consecutive years of drought, some areas of Texas are now breaking records for the wettest May ever. With most of their crop left to plant, it's forcing farmers to make some tough decisions and crop changes.

Drought continues to tighten its grip across the Plains, forcing farmers in West Texas to make some very difficult decisions this growing season. It's also causing concerns about crumbling cotton infrastructure.

Just ahead of USDA's Prospective Plantings report, the largest cotton growing state in the U.S. is seeing another year of drought, and with fields resembling the Dust Bowl, crop prospects are dwindling by the day.

Early projections show a clear trend of higher input costs for 2023. Are these projections causing you to lock in inputs sooner or later? Take our poll!

The first-of-its-kind biotech trait is commercially available to farmers as Bollgard 3 ThryvOn cotton with XtendFlex Technology – just in time for the 2023 production season. 

Cotton production will hang by the thin threads of demand in 2023 — and prices will likely sway in the 80¢ to 85¢ per pound range, depending on La Niña's trajectory.

As the U.S. faces a declining cotton crop this year due to drought, will the U.S. lose cotton acres in the years to come? John Phipps thinks the answer depends on three factors: competition, climate, and clothing

The USRCF started in 2021 working with farmers in Texas, Arkansas, Georgia and Mississippi. It has farmer-to-farmer education markets bringing together more than 100 cotton farmers.

Steven Ebeling admits farming in West Texas is never easy, but 2022 has been a brutal blow with the majority of the dryland acres already counted as a total loss, and irrigated acres are now struggling to survive.

Nearly 57% of Texas is in extreme drought, and with the most severe level of it parked over West Texas and the Texas Panhandle, the drought is starting to rob even irrigated fields of a crop.

USDA 's weekly Export Sales data for the week ended May 26 showed net sales of U.S. cotton for both old- and new-crop delivery with additional sales of sorghum but cancellations of old-crop soybean sales.

The class of 2023 is already in cotton fields. The trial runs preface outstanding genetic promise, according to Deltapine’s New Product Evaluator (NPE).

Cotton planting sits at 7% nationwide, on track with the average, and as drought blankets the home of what’s known as the largest cotton patch in the country, dwindling crop outlooks are feeding cotton prices.

USDA released the first crop progress report of the season, and it showed cotton planting is running slightly behind with 4% of the U.S cotton crop currently planted. One meteorologist says drought may be a factor.

Ty and Tracy Woodard are helping people find comfort and joy in cotton. Through their own story, they created a business called "Covered in Cotton," while also donating blankets through "Cotton with a Cause."

After the dizzying heights of $1.21 per pound in 2021, the Cotton Belt could see 12 million acres in 2022, and possibly more, contingent on a mercurial La Niña.

A series of tornado outbreaks across the South and Midwest in mid-December was devastating for states like Kentucky and Tennessee. Individual agricultural companies, as well as groups, continue to pull together to help.

Cotton prices are a bright spot for cotton producers across the U.S. As harvest hits high-gear, yields are coming in strong, while prices remain at a 10-year high.

Cotton conditions look to be improving as the crop draws closer to harvest. According to the latest USDA data, 71% of the U.S. cotton crop is now rated good to excellent. That compares to 46% this time last year.

A tropical storm making its way across portions of the U.S. could dampen outlooks for cotton supplies this year. Parts of the southeast are dealing with heavy rains from the remnants of Fred this week.

ICE cotton futures rose to their highest in nearly a week on Tuesday, propelled by fears of damage to the natural fiber crop in the delta region due to heavy rains.

West Texas farmer Blake Fennell says if rains don’t hit West Texas fields in the next month, it’ll be devastating to the area's cotton crop with the outlook for cotton acre abandonment already high.

Cotton prices have been on a rollercoaster ride this past year. The start to 2021 showed a story of improved prices, which is a dramatic change from just a year ago, as geopolitical issues also come into play.

The latest U.S. Drought Monitor shows from North Dakota to Texas, all the way west to California, the most severe levels of drought didn’t ease across the U.S. this past week. 

The cotton price picture is seeing some bullish factors come into play. USDA's WASDE report on Friday revealed higher exports - along with a smaller crop last year - continue to eat into overall supplies. 

Cotton futures rose on Wednesday supported by concerns that dry weather in West Texas, the largest U.S cotton-producing region, may weigh on U.S supplies of the crop.

Bayer AG said on Friday it had reached an "amicable settlement" in its Monsanto unit's long-running intellectual property dispute with Indian seed maker Nuziveedu Seeds Ltd (NSL) over genetically modified cotton seeds.

ICE cotton futures fell on Wednesday to the lowest in more than a month on a stronger dollar and expectations that rainfall in Texas would be beneficial for the natural fiber crop

The tradition of naming the Beltwide Cotton Specialist of the Year continued on with a virtual flair. Seth Byrd, Oklahoma State University Extension Cotton Agronomist, received this year’s cotton specialist award.

Is 13 million acres of U.S. cotton in the cards for 2021?

BASF is strengthening its cotton portfolio from seed to harvest with the introduction of two new seed treatment packages, Core and Prime seed treatments.

The United States will move to block imports of cotton and tomato products from western China's Xinjiang region over allegations that they are produced with forced labor.

A new cotton program helps trace cotton from farm all the way to American flags, helping share farmers' strong story about a crop with a strong history.

How deep a dip for cotton acreage in 2020? With producers saddled by anemic prices and the ongoing U.S.-China trade dispute, a cotton cut up to 3 million acres is a possibility.

Cotton prices rally but longer-term stress from the trade war with China continues to weigh on markets.

Conditions for the cotton crop in the U.S., the world’s biggest exporter, are deteriorating as dry weather erodes planting prospects in Texas, the top state grower.

Cotton acres at risk amid adverse weather as well as corn gain and cotton crop uncertainty may spur more price volatility.

Betsy Jibben talks with Ralph Sandeford, the owner of the Midville Gin and Warehouse, Midville, GA.

Betsy Jibben talks with Ralph Sandeford, the owner of the Midville Gin and Warehouse, Midville, GA.

The Raindls share the story of their family’s Texas crop through their clothing brand

The Raindls share the story of their family’s Texas crop through their clothing brand

The trade battle between the U.S. and China continues, and fresh data from U.S. Department of Agriculture puts it into perspective, showing some states saw exports decrease more than 80 percent to China in 2018.

Cotton Journal